Newsline - August 22, 1995

August 22, 1995 00:00 GMT

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Newsline - August 22, 1995

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OMRI DAILY DIGEST

VOL. 1, NO. 163, 22 AUGUST 1995RYBKIN FORMS LEFT-CENTER BLOC. After numerous false starts, Duma Speaker
Ivan Rybkin formed a left-center bloc on 21 August, finally fulfilling a
request President Boris Yeltsin made in late April, NTV reported. Having failed
to gain the support of the Agrarian Party, the Federation of Independent Trade
Unions (FNPR), and the Russian United Industrial Party (ROPP) (which recently
overturned a decision to join Rybkin), Rybkin's bloc now includes 50 relatively
unknown parties. Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky claimed
the bloc has no chance of winning the 5% vote needed to get into parliament,
but Sergei Yushenkov, of Russia's Democratic Choice, believes the bloc's
prospects are better due to "Rybkin's balanced and reasoned approach to
settling nearly all problems Russia faces," Interfax reported. * Robert
Orttung

ZHIRINOVSKY WILL NOT RUN IN SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICT. Zhirinovsky will run
exclusively on his Liberal Democratic Party list in the Duma elections, Radio
Rossii reported. In the last elections, to improve his chances of winning he
ran both on the party list and in a Moscow Oblast district, where he was
elected. In early August, Yabloko leader Grigorii Yavlinskii challenged
Zhirinovsky and Communist Party leader Gennadii Zyuganov to a three-way
electoral race in the same district in Moscow. * Robert Orttung

CHECHEN FIGHTERS SEIZE POLICE HEADQUARTERS IN ARGUN . . . Late in the
evening of 20 August,a group of about 250 Chechen fighters entered the
town of Argun, just east of Grozny, and seized the local police headquarters,
Russian and Western agencies reported. Chechen field commander Alaudi Khanzatov
announced that Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudaev had appointed him "commandant"
of the town, which had been occupied by federal troops in March. General
Anatolii Romanov, commander of federal forces in Chechnya, said the action was
a "gross violation of the [military] agreement," and federal troops
subsequently surrounded the building, evacuated the civilian population of the
town, and demanded that Khanzatov and his men surrender. Chechen military
commander Aslan Maskhadov and OSCE mediator Sandor Meszaros met with Khanzatov
on 21 August to negotiate a resolution to the standoff. Although Maskhadov at
first expressed surprise when told of Khanzatov's action, he later said it was
consistent with the provisions of the 30 July military accord, as Khanzatov and
his men were simply returning to their homes in Argun. * Scott Parrish

. . . RUSSIAN TROOPS STORM ARGUN POLICE BUILDING. According to NTV later
on 21 August, Chechen spokesman Movladi Udugov announced that Khanzatov and his
men would surrender at 3:45 p.m. local time. Federal troops waited until 4:45
p.m., but when no one emerged from the police headquarters by that time, they
stormed the building, supported by helicopter and artillery fire. Russian
officials later told ITAR-TASS that Maskhadov had been unable to persuade the
fighters inside to surrender. At about 6 p.m., a Russian military spokesman
said the assault had been "successfully" concluded, but sporadic gunfire
continued through the night. * Scott Parrish

ROSSEL ELECTED GOVERNOR OF SVERDLOVSK. Final vote counts confirm that
regional Duma Chairman and Federation Council deputy Eduard Rossel was elected
governor of the Sverdlovsk Oblast on 20 August, Russian media reported the next
day. Rossel received about 60% of the vote in the second round of elections,
while Sverdlovsk administrative head Aleksei Strakhov won only 32% despite
spending three times as much on the campaign as Rossel. In the first round,
held on 6 August, Rossel and Strakhov received 29% and 26% of the vote,
respectively (see OMRI Daily Digest, 8 August 1995). The result is a
setback for Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's bloc Our Home Is Russia, since
Strakhov leads its Sverdlovsk branch. Rossel is a strong advocate of regional
autonomy. In July 1993, then-governor Rossel declared the Sverdlovsk Oblast a
"Urals Republic," after which Yeltsin replaced Rossel with Strakhov and
dissolved the Sverdlovsk legislature. * Laura Belin

PARTY CHAIR CLAIMS BASHKORTOSTAN FUELS ETHNIC CONFLICTS. The republic of
Bashkortostan in Russia is training and financing troops loyal to Chechen
President Dzhokhar Dudaev, Sergei Shakhrai, chairman of the Party of Russian
Unity and Concord (PRES), alleged in an interview published in the 18-24 August
issue of Vek. Shakhrai also accused the Bashkir state of plotting to
divide the republic into Christians and Muslims, of hosting a separatist
Islamic congress, and of aggravating ethnic rifts between Bashkirs, Russians,
and Tatars by dismissing a Tatar from a key administrative post. The Bashkir
president, Murtaza Rakhimov, telephoned Vek himself to respond, saying
that Bashkortostan's constitution defines it as part of Russia and adding that
it had allocated 50 million rubles ($11,000) to the restoration of a Russian
church. He denied Shakhrai's accusations. Meanwhile, according to Vremya
on 21 August, reports are also circulating that Chechen troops are training in
the Czech Republic. * Alaina Lemon

COUP ANNIVERSARY ENDS ON LOW NOTE. An estimated 50 to 100 people
gathered at the Vagankovo cemetery in Moscow on 21 August to pay their respects
to the three people killed during the failed hard-line coup four years ago,
Western agencies reported. Sergei Filatov, President Yeltsin's chief of staff,
was the only senior official to lay a wreath on the graves. He said he was
"puzzled" that no one from the government or the Moscow Mayor's Office attended
the ceremony. In contrast with previous years, gatherings marking the 1995
anniversary of the putsch have attracted a low turnout. * Penny Morvant

KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA SEES BARSUKOV STRENGTHENING FSB. Newly
appointed Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Mikhail Barsukov is trying to
secure some of the former KGB's powers for his own service, Komsomolskaya
pravda reported on 22 August. In particular, he wants to incorporate parts
of the Federal Agency for Government Communication and Information (FAPSI) and
Foreign Intelligence Service into the FSB, potentially bringing him into
conflict with their respective heads, Andrei Starovoitov and Yevgenii Primakov.
The paper argues that Yeltsin will benefit from having Barsukov in charge of
the FSB's operational-technical department during the elections because it has
the capacity to tap hundreds of telephone lines and monitor correspondence.
Barsukov will be able to channel the information directly to Yeltsin. * Robert
Orttung

SOLDIER ARRESTED WITH RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL. In Tver on 18 August,
Federal Security Service and Interior Ministry officers arrested a former
soldier found in possession of 11 crates containing large quantities of
radioactive cobalt, ITAR-TASS reported. A local newspaper alleged that the
material was the same as that used to poison the prominent businessman Ivan
Kivelidi, who died on 4 August. Law enforcment agencies are currently
investigating the cause of Kivelidi's death. * Penny Morvant

NORWAY ON RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION OF ARCTIC. Speaking at the opening
of an international conference on pollution in the Arctic Ocean, Norwegian
Environment Minister Thorbjoern Berntsen said studies by three recent
Norwegian-Russian expeditions concluded that nuclear waste dumped east of
Novaya Zemlya had had little effect on the environment, Reuters reported on 21
August. He said the studies indicated that contamination was limited to areas
close to the dumped material and that there has been no impact on the main body
of the Kara and Barents seas. For many years, the Soviet navy dumped nuclear
waste, including whole reactors containing spent nuclear fuel, in those seas,
but the practice was discontinued after the collapse of communism. * Penny
Morvant

HEALTH MINISTRY RELEASES CHOLERA DATA. A Health Ministry official said
on 21 August that eight cholera cases, including one death, have been
registered in Russia this summer, Interfax reported. The first cases were
registered in June: two in Moscow, one in Rostov-na-Donu, and one in Chechnya.
No new cases were registered in July, but a resident of the Moscow area died of
cholera at the beginning of August and cases were recorded in Dagestan. The
Health Ministry official said urgent measures were being taken to prevent
another cholera epidemic in the southern Russian republic, where several
thousand people contracted the disease last year. * Penny Morvant

NORTHERN FLEET BALKS AT LOSS OF CARRIER. Admiral Oleg Yerofeyev,
commander of the Northern Fleet, has refused to meet a visiting Indian military
delegation, Russian TV reported on 19 August. India wants to lease the Northern
Fleet aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, but Yerofeyev has repeatedly
expressed his opposition to the deal. The reporter speculated that he would
probably have to give up the ship eventually, since its transfer was said to be
part of a program of military cooperation with India signed during Prime
Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's recent visit to New Delhi. * Doug Clarke

ST. PETERSBURG GAS SUPPLY CUT DUE TO NONPAYMENT. The Lentransgaz
Company, a major natural gas supplier in northwestern Russia, cut back St.
Petersburg's gas supply to 13.5 million cubic meters a day, Interfax reported
on 21 August. Until recently, the city had consumed as much as 15 million cubic
meters of gas a day. Lentransgaz acting director Yurii Streltsov told the news
agency that the leadership of Gazprom's northwestern affiliate was forced to
implement the tough measures to encourage debt payments from St. Petersburg's
major consumers. Lentransgaz is demanding 400 billion rubles ($91 million) of
the total 1 trillion rubles ($227 million) owed by St. Petersburg. * Thomas
Sigel

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

VOL. 1, NO. 163, 22 AUGUST 1995KAZAKH OPPOSITION STAGE HUNGER STRIKE AGAINST REFERENDUM. A group of
about 30 opposition activists staged a dem- onstration and a hunger strike on
21 August near Kazakhstan's parliament building to protest against holding a
national referendum on the draft constitution, ITAR-TASS reported on the same
day. Khasen Kozhakhmetov, chairman of the opposition group Democratic Movement
of Kazakhstan, told ITAR-TASS that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev had
failed to respond to their demands that the new constitution be decided on by
the national parliament--the only way it can go through a proper and detailed
analysis before being passed, according to the protesters. The coalition of
opposition parties and movements say the draft constitution gives the president
unlimited powers over the nation's parliament and courts. A spokesman for
Almaty's human rights committee told Reuters on 21 August that Interior
Ministry troops arrested 19 demonstrators for violating a presidential decree
against unauthorized public meetings. The opposition activists planned to hold
another protest in three days. * Bhavna Dave

AKAEV TO HOLD REFERENDUM EXTENDING TERM? Local officials in Kyrgyzstan
have collected 1.2 million signatures, 52% of the voting age population, in
support of a proposal that President Askar Akaev prolong his term in office
until 2001, a presidential spokesman in Bishkek told Reuters on 22 August. He
said that the officials are campaigning on a platform of "unity around one
leader, and not election campaigns." Akaev has repeatedly said that
presidential elections will be held on schedule in 1996. A final decision on
the referendum will be made later this month. The leaders of the neighboring
states of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan have already extended their
terms until the year 2000 or beyond through national referendums. * Bhavna
Dave

KYRGYZ PREPARE TO CELEBRATE 1,000 YEARS OF EPIC POEM. Kyrgyzstan is
preparing to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Manas--the legendary Kyrgyz
leader who is believed to have united his nomadic horsemen against enemy
tribes--at Talas in western Kyrgyzstan, Reuters reported on 21 August. The epic
Manas, passed on orally through generations, has become the most
important symbol of a new Kyrgyz national identity. Some claim that Manas is an
"historical figure, at least a 1000 years old," whereas others point out that
references to Manas were first found in the 15th century Tajik chronicles. A
Manas aiyly, or village, is being hastily built in the capital Bishkek for the
opening ceremony. The preparations for the festival are expected to cost $5
million; UNESCO and foreign investors have provided financial help. The
festival runs from 25-31 August. * Bhavna Dave

CIS

RUSSIAN DIVISION IN CRIMEA TO BE DISBANDED. A controversial Russian
division belonging to the Black Sea Fleet will be disbanded "in several weeks,"
NTV reported on 20 August. The 126th Coastal Defense Division, stationed in
Simferopol, was once a motorized rifle division belonging to the Ground Forces.
During the negotiations for the CFE treaty, the division was transferred to the
navy and transformed into a coastal defense division. The CFE treaty does not
apply to naval forces, but NATO objected so strongly to the move that the
Soviet Union finally agreed to count the weapons in the division against its
treaty allowances. The equipment and property of the division are to be turned
over to Ukraine. * Doug Clarke

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

VOL. 1, NO. 163, 22 AUGUST 1995

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

KUCHMA RESCINDS DECREE. President Leonid Kuchma has rescinded a March
decree, issued in his campaign to clamp down on Crimean separatism, that placed
the government of Crimea directly under the Ukrainian government's control,
Ukrainian TV reported on 21 August. Kuchma issued a new decree returning the
power to appoint a prime minister to the Crimean legislature, whose new
leadership is now dominated by forces more loyal to Kiev. The decree
stipulates, however, that candidates for the post must first be approved by the
Ukrainian president. The Crimean prime minister has the authority to appoint
other government members with the consent of the Crimean assembly. * Chrystyna
Lapychak

UKRAINIAN ECONOMIC NEWS. The National Bank of Ukraine has raised its
critical refinancing rate from 60% to 70% amid signs of growing inflation,
Ukrainian TV and Interfax-Ukraine reported on 21 August. Inflation rose from
4.8% in June to 5.2% in July and is expected to increase further in August
after a recent devaluation of the provisional currency, the karbovanets. The
tender edged up slightly against the dollar in trading on the Interbank
Currency Exchange from 167,000 to 165,000 to $1 since last week. Commercial
interest rates have remained around 60-70%, but most lending has remained
short-term, signaling lingering low confidence in the economy. Ukrainian TV
also reported that the State Property Fund of Ukraine, the body charged with
privatizing state-owned enterprises, has revoked the operating licenses of 14
investment trusts after uncovering numerous criminal violations, including
fraud. * Chrystyna Lapychak

GERMAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN BALTIC STATES. Volker Ruehe held talks on 21
August with his Lithuanian counterpart Linas Linkevicius, Prime Minister
Adolfas Slezevicius, Foreign Minister Povilas Gylys, and armed forces commander
Maj. Gen. Jonas Andriskevicius, BNS reported. Ruehe noted that while the visit
could be termed "historic" because it is the first to the Baltic States by a
German defense minister, subsequent visits will become "normal" events for the
European partners. After meeting President Algirdas Brazauskas in the morning
of 22 August, Ruehe travels to Latvia for talks with Latvian officials and a
visit to the Baltic Peacekeeping Battalion training center at Adazi. He will
then complete his Baltic tour in Estonia. * Saulius Girnius

LITHUANIAN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION DECLINES. The Lithuanian Department of
Statistics announced that industrial production in July was 8.5% lower than in
June while the use of electrical energy declined by 10%, BNS reported on 21
August. The production of tobacco products decreased by 71%, furniture by 54%,
lumber by 43%, electrical equipment by 34%, and basic metals by 33%. The
declines were offset, however, by increases in the production of peat by 243%,
in oil refining by 39%, and of automobile parts by 23%. * Saulius Girnius

STRIKE ENDS IN MINSK. A strike by metro workers in Minsk was ended on 21
August when police arrested several union leaders and brought in train drivers,
protected by a police escort, to replace the strikers, international agencies
reported. A union official said masked police arrested two union leaders and
brought them to the prosecutor general and then to the municipal court. Under
Belarusian law the strike was illegal. The head of the Independent Trade
Unions, Syarhei Antonchyk, said that police had detained 15 strikers and 60
were fired. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka told Belarusian radio he had
information that the strikers, who said they had not been paid since June, were
abetted by Polish and American unions. He also accused the nationalist
opposition of having a hand in organizing the strikes. * Ustina Markus

GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN BELARUS. Klaus Kinkel was in Minsk on 21
August where he met with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Prime Minister
Mikhail Chyhir, and his Belarusian counterpart Uladzimir Syanko, Belarusian
Radio and Russian Public Television reported. Afterwards, Kinkel gave a
negative report on the outcome of the meetings. He said that he did not receive
any guarantees from Lukashenka that Belarus would continue dismantling weapons
as obliged under the CFE treaty, and therefore Germany did not extend any
guarantees of disarmament aid to Belarus. Lukashenka halted CFE reductions in
February because of financial difficulties and said the disarmament will not
resume until Belarus receives financial aid for the reductions. * Ustina
Markus

POLISH PARLIAMENT'S WORK ON CONSTITUTION. The constitutional commission
of the Polish parliament approved on 21 August 11 articles of the
constitution's draft. Ratification and repealing the most important
international treaties concerning political and military alliances or citizens'
freedoms and rights would demand prior parliamentary approval. Transfer of
state legal prerogatives to an international organization would require a
two-thirds parliamentary majority, and may be submitted to a referendum. The
commission is finishing its work on the long overdue draft of the constitution
and the commission's head, presidential candidate Aleksander Kwasniewski, hopes
the draft will be ready before the date of presidential elections is announced.
Opposition deputies are pressing Kwasniewski to resign to exclude a possible
conflict of interest between his work on the constitution and his campaign,
Polish media reported on 22 August. * Jakub Karpinski

DATA ON POLISH FOREIGN TRADE. Poland's Main Statistical Office (GUS) has
published data on foreign trade for the first half of 1995. Exports in that
period amounted to $10.8 billion while imports totaled $13.2 billion. Both
exports and imports grew by nearly 40% compared with the first half of 1994.
Countries of the European Union, Germany in particular, remain Poland's most
important trading partners, Gazeta Wyborcza reported on 22 August. *
Jakub Karpinski

CHURCH-GOVERNMENT TENSION IN SLOVAKIA. Some 3,000 Catholics demonstrated
in Banska Bystrica on 21 August against what they see as government
intimidation of Catholic Church officials, Slovak media report. On 18 August,
Church officials accused the government of communist-era practices after police
stormed the office of Rudolf Balaz, head of the Slovak Bishops Conference,
allegedly investigating a report that Balaz might be involved in the illegal
trading of religious antiquities. Church officials have claimed that the house
search was was an act of retaliation against the Bishops Conference for
expressing support for President Michal Kovac in his conflict with Prime
Minister Vladimir Meciar. The government has distanced itself from the house
search but the investigation continues. * Jiri Pehe

SLOVAK PRESIDENT REACTS TO ACCUSATIONS. Michal Kovac on 21 August
responded to a statement made on 19 August by Tibor Cabaj, chairman of the
parliamentary caucus of Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar's Movement for a
Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). Cabaj said on Slovak Television that in the light
of Kovac's recent statements, citizens are beginning to be afraid that the
president wants to engineer a crisis similar to that which led to the ouster of
Meciar in March 1994. In his response, Kovac said Cabaj's accusations were
"regrettable." The president argued that he wants the HZDS to remain in power
until the next regular parliament elections. Moreover, said the president, "I
never engineered any March crisis; nor am I preparing one now." He noted that
what makes citizens afraid and nervous are not his own statements but others
such as those made by Cabaj. * Jiri Pehe

HUNGARY'S SOCIALISTS SURPASSED IN OPINION POLL. An opinion poll released
on 21 August by Marketing Centrum shows Hungary's ruling Socialists trailing an
opposition party for the first time since the Socialists' landslide election
victory in May 1994. The results of the poll, published in Nepszava,
show the Socialists running in second place with 16%; the right-of-center
populist Smallholders placed first with 22%. The Socialists' junior coalition
partner, the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats, finished third with 14%. The
popularity of Prime Minister Gyula Horn's Socialist Party has been dwindling
for nearly a year, but the slide accelerated following the passing of an
austerity package in March aimed at cutting the country's huge budget and
current account deficits. * Jiri Pehe

OMRI DAILY DIGEST

VOL. 1, NO. 163, 22 AUGUST 1995BOSNIA ACCUSES UN OF ABANDONING GORAZDE. International media on 22
August quoted Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey as condemning the UN
decision to withdraw the remaining peacekeepers from the "safe area" of Gorazde
and replace them with unarmed monitors. Given the UN's track record in
Srebrenica, Zepa, and elsewhere, the presence or absence of UN troops is
unlikely to deter the Serbs from overrunning Gorazde. Sacirbey, however, seems
concerned with the political and symbolic implications of the world body's
move. Nasa Borba, meanwhile, quoted UN spokesman Alexander Ivanko as
saying that one shell is no reason for NATO intervention. He was replying to
Sacirbey's earlier criticism of the UN for not calling in air strikes when
three children were killed in Gorazde on 20 August. Sacirbey asked: "When will
enough be enough, and what will it take for the United Nations and NATO to
react to this terrorism?" * Patrick Moore

CROATIAN UPDATE. The mayor of Dubrovnik on 21 August told a press
conference that demilitarization could be one answer to the city's problems
posed by Serbian artillery in the heights above. News agencies reported from
Montenegro, however, that Bosnian Serb forces are building up strength in the
area. Elsewhere, the UN continued to criticize Croatia. It appealed to Zagreb
not to return some 25,000 Muslim refugees loyal to Bihac-pocket warlord Fikret
Abdic to Bosnian government-controlled territory. It also accused Croatia of
not admitting Muslim refugees from Banja Luka. Croatia has denied the charges,
saying that it has already taken in 2,500 Muslims from the latest round of
Serbian "ethnic cleansing" of the Banja Luka region's once large Muslim and
Croatian populations. Croatia hosts another 50,000 Muslim refugees whom it has
admitted since 1992. Opinion polls have shown, however, that many Croats resent
the idea of able-bodied Muslim men sitting out the war in Croatia and feel such
people should go back to Bosnian government-controlled territory. * Patrick
Moore

TUDJMAN CALLS ON RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE SERBIA. Croatian President Franjo
Tudjman on 21 August urged Russian presidential envoy Aleksandr Zotov to
persuade Serbia to recognize Croatia. Hina said that Tudjman "underlined the
willingness of Croatia to settle the problem on the basis of mutual recognition
[between Belgrade and Zagreb] and urged Russia to use its influence on Serbian
authorities to this end. Failing that, Croatia will feel obliged to resort to
all means at its disposal to liberate the remainder of its occupied
territories" and to enable refugees to go home. Vecernji list on 22
August asked whether some joint U.S.-Russian peace proposal is in the offing,
but Mlada fronta dnes on 18 August warned Western powers against trying
to rid themselves of the current crisis by giving Moscow undue diplomatic
influence in the Balkans. * Patrick Moore

A NEW BOSNIAN PEACE PLAN. Slobodna Dalmacija on 21 August
reported on suggestions in international media over the weekend that Karadzic
had been ousted by the military commander, General Ratko Mladic. The paper also
discussed a new 12-point peace plan by Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic that
stresses the "sovereignty and territorial unity" of the state. The project
apparently makes no mention of any confederal ties to either Serbia or Croatia.
It does, however, guarantee the Serbs full rights. * Patrick Moore

SERBIAN REFUGEE UPDATE. BETA on 21 August reported that the total number
of Krajina Serbs now in rump Yugoslavia is 154,079. Of that number,
approximately 83,000 are in Serbia's ethnically mixed Vojvodina province, and
about 3,000 in the predominantly ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo.
Montena-fax observes that some 1,115 have found refuge in Montenegro. Belgrade
officials continue to articulate concern for the humanitarian needs of the
refugees, and on 22 August AFP quotes national bank Governor Dragoslav
Avramovic as saying the best way to meet them is "to reduce budgetary spending
in general while promoting production and boosting revenues." Meanwhile, on 21
August the BBC reported that the UN has protested to Serbia over its having
press-ganged about 1,000 "military-aged" Krajina male refugees last week. The
men have been forcibly deported to Bosnia. * Stan Markotich

ROMANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY'S NEW RELIGIOUS LEADER TAKES OFFICE. Rabbi
Mark Yehezkel, the new leader of Romania's Jewish community, arrived in
Bucharest on 20 August and on the following day met members of the Federation
of Jewish Communities of Romania, Radio Bucharest announced on 21 August. Rabbi
Yehezkel, who was elected to the position by the federation on 28 May, succeeds
the deceased Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen. Although he will not, for the time being,
have the title of Chief Rabbi, his jurisdiction extends over all of the
country's Jewish congregations. Unlike Rabbi Rosen, Rabbi Yehezkel will not be
president of the federation, a function now fulfilled by a layman, Professor
Nicolae Cajal. Rabbi Yehezkel was born in 1928 in Romania. He left the country
for Israel in 1946, lectured at Israel's Bar Ilan religious university in Tel
Aviv and was head of a South African Jewish congregation between 1970 and 1972.
* Michael Shafir

ROMANIAN MILITARY INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION. Citing Rompres, Radio
Bucharest said on 21 August that the Romanian troops who participated in the
joint Hungarian-Romanian exercise in Hodmezovasarhely had returned to the
country. The exercise was held within the Partnership for Peace Program and
lasted 11 days. Hungarian Defense Minister Gyorgy Keleti told the guests they
should "bring home the message that Hungary is capable and prepared to defend
itself" and has the means to do so. In other news, Romanian television reported
on 21 August that the first contingent of 105 peacekeeping troops has left for
Angola. The Romanian battalion will eventually be manned by a total of 750
soldiers. * Michael Shafir

PULL-OUT OF RUSSIAN WEAPONS FROM MOLDOVA TO BEGIN. The press center of
the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Moldova -- the former 14th Army --
announced on 21 August that the repatriation of its weapons and equipment from
the Transdniestr region would begin shortly. ITAR-TASS quoted the group's
commander, Lt. Gen. Valery Yevnevich, as announcing that the first shipment
would take place on 25 August. The report said that Russian troops were
currently loading four trains with military cargo, and that these would all
leave for Russia before mid-September. * Doug Clarke

TURKISH DEFENSE MINISTER IN MOLDOVA. Turkish Defense Minister Mehmet
Golhan began on 20 August a two day-visit to Moldova. BASA-press reported on 21
August that Golhan said upon his arrival that Ankara hoped the issue of the
presence of Russian troops in Moldova will be solved "in a manner that will not
harm Moldovan independence." He added that Turkey and Russia were "neighboring
countries that . . . do not interfere in each other's domestic affairs."
Moldovan Defense Minister Pavel Creanga said no documents will be signed during
the visit, but the two sides will continue work on drafting a cooperation
program between the two ministries. Golhan is also scheduled to meet President
Mircea Snegur, Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli, and Foreign Minister Mihai
Popov. * Michael Shafir

PRIVATE TV IN MOLDOVA. The first Moldovan private independent television
station, Catalan TV, began broadcasting on 21 August, BASA-press reported on
the same day. The station will mainly air original programs dealing with local
events. Catalan TV reaches an area of 35 kilometers around Chisinau. * Michael
Shafir

BULGARIAN BANK MERGER. BTA on 21 August reported that three large
banking institutions -- Sofiabank, Serdika Bank and Biochim Bank -- have
announced a merger plan. Total capital assets of the new company are expected
to be about 1.3 billion leva ($19 million), and among the chief shareholders
are at least two Russian banks. The merger plan has already been approved in
principle by the government. * Stan Markotich

ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS MACEDONIA. Albanian Foreign Minister
Alfred Serreqi and his Macedonian counterpart Stevo Crvenkovski on 21 August
accused Belgrade of attempting to modify borders in the Balkans by flooding
Kosovo with Serb refugees, AFP reports the following day. Concerning the
situation in Bosnia, both politicians agreed that "Macedonia and Albania
consider unacceptable any change to borders by force and ethnic cleansing." The
two sides will formulate a "common strategy" to cope with a possible widening
of the war to Kosovo that might follow the relocation of Krajina refugees
there. Serreqi, on a three-day visit to Macedonia, also met with Parliament
Speaker Stojan Andov and representatives of parliamentary parties, including
the main ethnic Albanian Party of Democratic Prosperity. Serreqi will meet
President Kiro Gligorov and Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski in Ohrid the same
day. * Fabian Schmidt

NEW ALBANIAN MILITARY DOCTRINE. Albanian President Sali Berisha
presented a new military doctrine on 21 August, Zeri I Popullit reports
the next day. He said the army went through a period of restructuring and has
been modernized in cooperation with NATO and other countries. The new doctrine
therefore focuses on strengthening the army but mainly on regional cooperation.
Reuters, however, quotes Berisha as saying that "although Albania's
sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity is . . . guaranteed with
political means, we cannot renounce having armed forces able to secure a
convincing defense of the country [but] Albania does not threaten militarily
any other state and . . . it is resolved to solve disagreements through
dialogue." * Fabian Schmidt